


Adept

by shadowglove88



Series: The Adept [2]
Category: NCIS, Smallville, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Demon Hunters, Gen, Mystery, Overprotective Father, Past Abuse, Supernatural Elements, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 13:50:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18993895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowglove88/pseuds/shadowglove88
Summary: After saving Director Vance from a shapeshifter, Chloe is asked (despite Gibbs' disapproval) to help the group whenever their cases have a supernatural element to them.This new case brings her into contact with both a demon and a hunter.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Two shot's notes/warnings:
> 
> Written for my Paranormal25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt of the Day # 27: Haunted Prison
> 
> Warning: Some spoilers for the Movie: A Haunting In Connecticut because Tony, being Tony, discusses movies.

Putting on her gloves, Chloe nodded at the policemen putting up the yellow tape around the crime scene. She ducked under a strip and briefly hugged herself against the cold of the morning, heading in the direction she'd been told the body had been found. The blonde pushed open the door and and hesitated at the strong scent of blood, before pushing onwards, recognizing the smiling faces of Ducky, Ziva, Tony and McGee. "Hey guys. Where's Gibbs?"

"Morning Chloe." Ducky smiled while the others parroted hellos.

"The boss is talking to the prison warden," McGee responded to her earlier question.

"You're looking bushy-eyed and bright-tailed this morning." Ziva smiled confidently.

Tony sighed, as he usually did whenever she got her English a bit turned-around. "Bushy-tailed and bright- _eyed."_

Both females ignored him.

"Thanks." Chloe smiled at Ziva while going to stand next to her. "So, what was I called in for?"

"This particular death seemed right up your alley." Ducky motioned for Chloe to follow him, both making sure to not contaminate the crime scene as best as they could, and he walked her to one of the bathroom stalls, opening the door to reveal the corpse within. "Meet Corporal Larry Maddison."

"Hello Larry." Chloe bent to her knees, frowning. "Who did you piss off?"

"Actually..." Ducky cleared his throat and fixed his glasses on his face. "From what I can tell, he did that to  _himself_."

Chloe looked up at Ducky with raised eyebrows before turning back to the mutilated corpse. " _Ouch_."

Her gaze went over the many different symbols carved into his skin. She easily made the assumption that they'd been carved with the large, bloody glass fragment on the ground beneath his lifeless hand, a fragment which must have been taken after he'd broken the bathroom mirror. The blonde frowned as she noticed some of the symbols disappeared under his sleeve. "Are there more symbols on his body?"

Ducky nodded. "Yes, but I will not be able to get a good look at them until I have him back at headquarters."

Chloe nodded, standing. "I want to be there in the room before you perform the autopsy. Those symbols..." She paused. "They're disturbing."

"Tell  _me_ about it!" Tony plopped in a strip of chewing gum into his mouth. "It's just like in The Haunting In Connecticut, except  _this_  sucker actually did that to  _himself_."

"I see your point." She eyed the body once more with this information. "But those marking and these are completely different. Thinking about it, the ones on those bodies were quite harmless: Protect the land, keep out intruders, obey my every wish. It was only when the one who did it died that things got screwy. And only because it wasn't very well thought out. If he'd just carved some additional symbols he would have been able to control them from beyond the grave." She smirked. "He must have been so  _pissed_  when he realized that after passing over."

There was silence.

The blonde winced, not needing to look up to know she'd freaked them again.

Sometimes she forgot that despite the fact that they were very accepting of her and her weirdness, sometimes one could be a little  _too_  weird. She seemed to be crossing that line over and over again.

Chloe cleared her throat, interrupting the awkward silence. "I want to have a better look at the other symbols that are covered by his clothes before you do any cutting."

"Of course." Ducky nodded.

"So you think this  _does_  have satanic associations... or paranatural." Ziva frowned. Surprisingly enough, she had been quite accepting of the fact that there were supernatural or paranormal things in the world, and along with Abby was the most nonplussed whenever they got the odd case like this.

" _Supernatural,_ " Tony whispered to himself in a tired way, correcting his partner once again.

"Most definitely," Chloe replied to Ziva's question without a moment's hesitation.

Gibbs had been trying to keep Chloe completely overprotected, but had been forced to go to her for advice when one of their cases had had hints of supernatural aspects in it. It was only because of Chloe's knowledge that they'd been able to realize that the suspect  _wasn't_  the Corporal in question, but a shapeshifter who'd taken his form. They had been able to arrest the shapeshifter, but what exactly were they supposed to do with him? Chloe had had a special pair of handcuffs made that were made with enough silver to keep the shifter from being able to shift, but not enough to truly hurt, much less kill, him.

Considering that Chloe had nearly been killed in that incident she probably wouldn't have been allowed by Gibbs to ever help out again-except that the man whom the shapeshifter had tried to shift into next (and had consequently kidnapped), was Director Leon Vance. He'd been kidnapped and kept in the sewer system, had watched as the shapeshifter tore off his own face and began to shift into the  _other_  face it had decided it wanted better...the man the shifter had wanted to be. The shifter, in his new face, had gone to kill Vance, and probably would have killed him too if Chloe hadn't tackled him from behind. The two had fought while Vance tried to free himself, and Chloe had been thrown into the wall, pinned there as the creature with the human face snarled at her, slashing at her, wounding her.

It was only when Gibbs arrived and shot the shifter, wounding and then knocking him unconscious, that the day was saved.

That was how Vance learnt about the supernatural, and after a very long meeting with Chloe, they'd agreed (neither listening to Gibbs' intense disapproval) that whenever a case had the chance of being supernatural Chloe would be brought in. The seventeen year old had grown used to being called at odd hours to crime scenes, as well as examining dead bodies, most of them terribly mutilated.

"What are  _you_  doing here?" Gibbs asked, frown obvious in his voice. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

She didn't turn to acknowledge him. "You're always so grumpy in the mornings, Jethro. You need to try some of Abby's Caf-Pow to see if it'll make you as bubbly as it makes her." She turned to Ducky. "Though, it'd be a bit disturbing to have a  _bubbly_  Jethro, wouldn't it?"

"I do say so." Ducky had to agree.

Tony looked utterly terrified at the very thought.

Gibbs slapped his daughter up the back of the head, though it was much softer than whenever he'd do it to the others.

She finally looked up at him and smiled.

He smiled back before sighing and looking at the body. "I hate these sorts of cases."

"Only because I get involved," she countered, standing and brushing her hands together. "This one is  _interesting_."

"I'm terrified to ask why." Tony plopped more gum into his mouth, watching her in morbid fascination. "Is this some sort of... summoning crap?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Why would you think summoning?"

He went pale. "Oh god. It  _is_. Isn't it?"

Ziva and McGee exchanged looks.

Noticing something, Chloe edged closer to the crime scene and bent down again, narrowing her eyes as she pulled out a tweezers from her handbag and used it to pick up a piece of burnt paper covered in blood and stuck to the body. "Evidence bag."

Ducky passed her one.

"Thanks Ducks." She smiled, bagging the piece of paper as she stepped away. "There's something written on this, but the blood is so dark it's making it hard to make out. Seems like old Babylonian though. Maybe Assyrian." She narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look through the blood. "Ancient Assyrian. Definitely." The blonde began to walk away, snapping her fingers. "McGee. I'm not taking the public transport while holding this."

McGee's eyes widened. "But the boss might need..."

"McGee..." Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"Right." McGee nodded, going towards Chloe. "I'm parked outside."

Blowing a kiss to her father, Chloe walked out after McGee.

In the car she kept trying to decipher the writings, but it was  _hard_. She even forgot to thank McGee for the ride once they reached NCIS headquarters. The blonde had instead gone inside using her clearance I.D. and headed to her own little laboratory/office, which Vance had given her to work in whenever a supernatural case came up. She worked on cleaning the blood off softly, trying not to damage or break the fragile paper, and when Ziva arrived later with some bags containing other little pieces of paper they'd found on the body, Chloe felt more uneasy. She'd managed to clean up the first one quite a bit by that time, and what she'd managed to decipher was disturbing to say the least.

It was with a mixture of relief and trepidation that she headed down to the morgue when Ducky dialed her through the intercom to let her know that the body was ready for autopsy. Pictures of the body would have been enough, of course, but Chloe preferred seeing the corpse up close. There were some angles in pictures that you missed things that could be incredibly important, so with surgical gloves donned again she surveyed the body of Corporal Larry Maddison. Gibbs was already there, and she knew that he was frowning at her even though she didn't look at him.

Gibbs wanted her to have as normal a life as possible, but she was the Adept, she held all the knowledge on the supernatural or otherworldly ever obtained in her head. There was no way she could  _be_  just another teenaged girl. This was a part of her, and while she couldn't access most of the information stored in her brain easily, the more she worked cases like this, the more she found the keys to the locks imposed on her mind and knowledge.

And she thirsted for more.

"The wounds are most definitely self inflected, note how on the back itself there are almost no symbols since it was out of his reach, and the ones closest to his back are less structured than the ones where he'd have easy access," Ducky informed Gibbs. "There's also signs of blunt force trauma to the head suffered a couple of hours before the symbols were carved."

Chloe's gloved fingers ghosted over the markings, engraving them in her mind, trying to access the information on them she knew she had somewhere locked up in some part of her.

Like a key turning in a lock, the door opened and it flooded in in a jumbled mess, leaving her momentarily disoriented.

Closing her eyes tightly, she swayed slightly, the lights in the room blaring, before finally everything subsided and she could open her eyes once more.

Taking in a deep breath, Chloe continued to trace the markings softly. She then reached the one by his rib. "This is not good."

"What is it?" GIbbs asked, going to stand behind her, towering over her shorter frame.

"At first I thought the Corporal might have made a self-sacrifice...but this symbol? This isn't..." She frowned, bending on her knees and staring at a badly carved symbol. "Oh shit."

"For those of us who don't read ancient Assyrian..." Gibbs was getting impatient.

"Oh, no, this isn't Assyrian. The bits of paper are in Assyrian, one or two in Babylonian. But these symbols? They're in ancient Sumerian. So the bits of Babylonian make sense, since Sumer was the ancestor of Babylon." She looked up and knew from the look in her father's eyes that she'd lost him... although Ducky seemed fascinated. The blonde straightened and cleared her throat. "Right. I'm rambling." The young girl motioned back to the body. "Unless Corporal Larry Maddison knew fairly competent ancient Babylonian, Assyrian, and Sumerian, and considering that symbol, he wasn't the one who did this."

"But the wounds are most  _definitely_  self inflicted." Ducky frowned before getting it, eyes widening as he nodded. "Possession."

"So we have a ghost in our midst." Gibbs massaged his forehead.

"But that makes no  _sense,_ " a new voice announced, and they turned to see a bouncy, excited Abby in the doorway. "I mean, what would trigger the ghost's behavior? There's been no recent murders-the prison just opened last month. There's no reconstruction going on because, as stated already, it's  _new_. What could have made a ghost this angry?"

Chloe smiled at the enthusiasm Abby always showed for the paranormal cases.

Abby, noticing the look Gibbs was giving her, gave him a sheepish smile. "News reached me about the new case and I  _tried_  Gibbs, I really did. But this is a Haunting In Connecticut all over again! It's exciting! I love that movie! And even though I doubt its truthfulness because of some parts I-." She stopped when she saw the amused expression on everyone's face. "Right. I'm rambling."

Gibbs turned to Ducky and sighed. "They spend too much time together."

"I'm afraid so." Ducky grinned, feeling no compassion at all.

"Why do they always talk as if we're not in the room?" Abby wanted to know, joining Chloe's side as she surveyed the body.

"Old people do that." Chloe ducked the swat Gibbs had aimed for her, and went around the other side of the table. "Okay, all joking aside, we have a serious problem on our hands."

And like that, all levity vanished.

"What is it?" Gibbs frowned.

"Tony actually got something right. The symbols on the Corporal? They're summoning." She looked around her. "Demonic summoning."

Abby's eyes widened. "No way."

"We need to destroy this body," Chloe announced.

"We can't  _destroy_  the body." Gibbs leaned down with his hands on the autopsy table next to the body. "This is evidence, it belongs to the-."

"It  _belongs_  to Azazel." Chloe interrupted, mimicking her father's stance, both glaring at each other over the body. "The ghost that inhabited the Corporal's body wanted to summon  _Azazel_  to him, and since we brought the body with  _us_  we're  _all_  in danger."

" _Azazel_?" Abby whispered, hand going to her mouth. "As in the biblical demon?"

"One goat for God, and one for Azazel." Chloe nodded. "It's in Leviticus 16 I think."

"Wait, I know that text." Ducky took off his glasses and cleaned them. "But it doesn't say  _Azazel_ , it says scape goat."

"No, it says Scape Goat. Azazel's name  _means_  Scape Goat. If you read the original versions of the Bible, the Hebrew, you'd see that." Chloe waved that off. "The Hebrew Bible mentions demons like Azazel and Lilith by name, but our version changed them to Scape Goat...and I believe Lilith to changed to something like shrieking or screeching owl. Though some also call her Lamia..." She frowned, trying to remember. "In short, they didn't want the demons' names in the bible, so they took the meanings of the names and put it there instead."

Ducky blinked.

Gibbs' frown went darker.

"Azazel and Lilith were big time demons. In fact, Azazel himself was so big time that the Hebrew used to have a day of cleansing in which they'd have two goats for sacrifice," Chloe explained. "One they'd slit the throat of as a symbol of their Messiah redeeming and saving them, and the other the high priest would put his hands over and transfer all the sins into. That goat would then be taken to the wilderness-Azazel's kingdom-by the strongest man in the village, and would be left there to be consumed as a sacrifice as well. One goat for God, one for Azazel."

Abby nodded her agreement.

"So, believe me when I say, you do  _not_  want Azazel coming here." Chloe narrowed her eyes. "We  _have_  to destroy this body."

The lights started to flicker.

She went pale.

"It's already too late." A voice said from the stairs.

They turned as one, Gibbs pulling out his gun and aiming at the man in the man in a suit standing there.

Chloe blinked.

The man was handsome.Very handsome. He had dark hair scattered with traces of gray, his beard and mustache was short and neatly trimmed. His eyes were dark. And sad.

The lights continued to flicker.

"He's coming," Chloe whispered.

Gibbs suddenly frowned. " _John_?"

The stranger smiled. "Hello Leroy, I didn't realize you worked here."

"Gibbs?" Abby turned to him. "You know tall dark and mysterious?"

"No  _time!_ " Chloe and John said at the same time, before Chloe rushed to where Ducky's assistant kept the salt shaker 'hidden' so he could have lunch down in the morgue with Ducky. She threw the large container to John, who caught it and eyed her in surprise before beginning to pour out the salt in the doorway in a straight line. "What are you-?" Ducky asked.

Chloe rushed to the intercom and pressed the emergency button she'd had Vance install in case something like this happened.

A loud, shrill sound echoed throughout the building as lights flashed.

She only could pray that the employees would get to the panic room in time.

"What's going on?" Gibbs wanted to know. "John, what are you doing here? What-?"

"Ducky?" Chloe called.

The older, British man nodded and pressed a button on the underside of his desk, causing the morgue to go dark, and then ultraviolet lights came on, causing symbols that'd been painted on the walls and ceiling to magically appear.

"What the-?"

"They look good." Abby grinned. "We're good."

Chloe couldn't smile, too nervous as she looked towards the doorway.

"These symbols..." John looked around him as he pulled out a gun. "How do you know them?"

"How did you get in here with a weapon?" Gibbs cocked his gun. "Drop it!"

"Dad!" Chloe snapped, placing a hand on Gibbs' arm. "Put the gun down, he's a hunter."

Gibbs was tense, but not because of the situation. He looked down at Chloe in wonder as she cleared her throat and looked away. It was the first time she'd ever called him that.

"Trust me, please."

Although the marine in Gibbs obviously was telling him to subdue John and unarm him, the father in him trusted her, and she was extremely thankful when he lowered his weapon.

"How  _touching_." A voice announced from the doorway.

John snarled and fired his weapon at the figure.

"He's in a host!" Chloe snapped at the hunter.

But she didn't have to worry for the host, because the demon moved his hand and the bullets fell, useless.

" _Really_ , John. You  _know_  that bullets and  _everything else_  you've tried to kill me with won't work." He sneered, the flashing lights illuminating his face momentarily before bathing it in darkness. "And anyway, I was summoned. This is  _no way_  to treat a guest. A took time out of my  _very_  busy schedule to be here, you know."

"You're one of the most powerful demons in existence." Chloe cleared her throat. "I doubt you were bound to come if summoned."

He turned towards her, head tilted. "True. But I was curious." His eyes were yellow and glowing in the half-light as he noticed the salt barring his entrance in the room, and the symbols highlighted by the ultra-violet light. "Those symbols." He turned to Chloe, an amused smile tilting his lips. "So  _you're_  her. You've done a good job at hiding yourself up until now, little Adept."

John's eyes widened as he turned to look at Chloe.

Gibbs snarled and went to stand in front of his daughter protectively, aiming his gun the demon. "You leave her out of this."

The demon gaze at him. "Has she not told you that that's useless against me?"

"Dad! You'll only hurt the host!" Chloe tugged him back.

Gibbs was obviously fighting his desire to protect her, as well as his knowledge that he'd be hurting someone innocent.

Finally, he lowered his gun.

Chloe kept her hand on his arm. "We're sorry, Lord Azazel," she cleared her throat, trying to access all the information she had on the demon, realizing that he was a highly respected demon and would have been called this by his peers. "We didn't summon you. The ghost who did this did."

" _Lord_   _Azazel_?" John snapped at her.

She ignored him, eyes on Azazel.

"Good. You have manners." Azazel grinned as he steepled his fingers in front of him. "Too few humans understand how much that's appreciated."

The blonde cleared her throat.

Abby and Ducky stood behind the other three, holding hands.

"John." Azazel turned to the man. "How's Sammy?"

John snarled and fired again, although he knew the bullets would only fall to the ground...which they did.

Azazel chuckled. "You're too  _easy_ , John. You need to get a reign on that temper of yours. Patience  _is_  a virtue, you know."

"You no good sonofabitch!" John growled. "When I find out how to kill you I'm going to!"

Azazel turned his golden eyes on Chloe then. "There are people who aren't safe in this building."

She recognized the threat for what it was, and she clenched her fists tightly. "What do you want?"

He smirked, about to take a step into the room before remembering and stopping, looking down at the barrier of salt. "You know where he is."

Her heart began to race. "Who?"

He chuckled, obviously sensing her fear. "Come now, little Adept, you know who I'm talking about."

She looked away.

"Answer enough."

"Chloe, what's he talking about?" Gibbs asked.

"You're not asking, so you already know." Chloe ignored him, finally returning her gaze on the demon. "What do you want, Lord Azazel?"

A muscle jumped in John's cheek, but he refrained from commenting this time.

The demon just smirked. "See you later, little Adept."

And with that he vanished.

They were left in uncomfortable silence.

"What's that  _scent_?" Abby whimpered, finally breaking into the silence, covering her nose. "Ducky? Do you have eggs rotting somewhere?"

"It's sulfur," John and Chloe answered at once, before giving each other looks.

"Is that thing gone?" Gibbs wanted to know.

"Yeah." Chloe nodded, running a shaky hand over her hair. "He's gone. For now."

"You knew his name." John's eyes were only for Chloe as he grabbed her arm. "He called you the Adept. I'd heard rumors but-."

"Take your  _hands_  off of my daughter, Winchester." Gibbs' voice was calm, but his eyes dangerous.

John looked up at Gibbs and then nodded, letting go. "I-I'm sorry, it's just that I didn't even know his name until now and yet now..." His eyes were intense on Chloe. "I need to know whatever you can tell me about him. He-he killed my wife, and-."

"Bled blood into the child's mouth." Chloe finished, wincing when John flinched back, horrified, obviously not having known that part. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew."

"He bled into Sammy's mouth?" John whispered, horrified.

"He's been doing that for a long time now, with children on the night of their sixth month of life." Chloe brought a hand to her forehead as her mind rebelled, not wanting to reveal much more about Azazel...not having much more to give anyway. "I don't know why, but he shows special interest in these children...though so far nothing has come of it, from what I know."

"Who was he asking you about?" Ducky wanted to know, turning off the ultra-violet light, the normal one turning on and blinding everyone momentarily.

"Lucifer," Chloe replied.

Abby's eyes widened. "You know where Lucifer is?"

The blonde paused, not sure how to explain it. It didn't help that the more time that passed while she hid from Lionel the more she felt the strain, and the less she found herself being able to verbalize herself correctly. "I know I know...but I don't  _know_."

"Why does he want with Lucifer?" Gibbs looked as if he couldn't believe he was having this conversation.

"Lucifer's his father, why wouldn't-?" Chloe winced when she saw the expression on everyone's face. "I'm the only one who knew that, huh?" She sighed, palming her face. "Sometimes I forget that things I know aren't common knowledge."

John made as it to grab her again but backed down after a glance in Gibbs' direction. "I need to talk to you."

"You need to  _wait_." She was already heading towards the door. "We need to go back to that prison. Whoever is controlling that ghost is trying to get into communication with Azazel, and I doubt that he's going to let this stop him or her. The person is going to try again."

"There's someone controlling a ghost?" Abby asked, eyes wide.

Chloe stopped in mid-stalk and flinched, turning around, expression sheepish. "I forgot to mention that, didn't I?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe didn't believe in coincidences.

Mostly it was because, with her knowledge, she knew of too many instances in which certain acts that had been taken as 'fate' had actually been a plan in a previously unknown design. So as she watched her father and John Winchester have their gruff conversation as they arrived outside of the prison she couldn't help but feel that they were meant to meet and team up with John Winchester. Maybe their teaming up would be vital to this mission-or would be vital sometime down the road, but it  _would_ be vital, of that she was sure.

Apparently John and Gibbs had been in the Marines together, and had saved each other's lives more than once. There was a respect between the men, although they didn't seem to quite  _like_  each other.

Tony, Ziva, and McGee appeared confused as how to act as the two men bickered with each other.

McGee pulled up outside the prison.

"Oh _thank god,_ " Tony whispered as he exited the car.

Ziva smirked and went to the trunk, going through the weaponry.

"This is out of your jurisdiction, Winchester." Gibbs stepped out of the car.

"This is the supernatural, Gibbs, this is more  _my_  jurisdiction than  _yours,_ " John replied, stepping out after him. "And your daughter is one of the most important-if not  _the_  most important-asset to my world. The knowledge she has in that brain of hers-I'm not going to let her get killed."

"She's my  _daughter,_ " Gibbs grumbled, not even looking at Ziva when she passed him a modified M9 Beretta. " _I_  am not going to let her get killed."

"Ok, now that we're clear that neither of you are going to let me get killed," Chloe stepped in between them, hands on their chests, "can we go do this before the summoner brings Azazel in?" She gave them both a raised eyebrow. "If you're both so interested in my well-being I think we can all agree that having another meeting with Azazel wouldn't be in my best interest."

Neither Gibbs nor John said anything, but they backed down.

"Behold, Xena, Warrior Princess," Tony whispered to McGee.

McGee chuckled, but then covered it with a cough when Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him.

Ziva passed around the weapons.

Chloe pulled out the sawed off she'd had on her waistband.

John had his own weapons.

"How exactly are we going to do this, boss?" McGee wanted to know, frowning. "We don't know who killed Corporal Maddison."

"But we  _do_." Chloe frowned in confusion, before turning to McGee and wincing. "That's  _another_  thing I've forgotten to tell everyone, isn't it?"

Tony nodded helpfully.

Damn it. This was getting worse. At least everyone seemed to think that she was merely eccentric and forgetful, and she'd be able to play that off for now, but what happened when it got worse?

"I've got to stop doing that." The blonde sighed and palmed her face. "Sorry, I-" She sighed once more. "To be fair though, I didn't piece everything together until the car ride over." She pointed to said car with her gun, causing Tony to wince. "There were some symbols that my brain was still trying to compute. I haven't had to translate Syrian before, and it was...how should I put it...buffering and freezing...over and over again."

McGee, as always, looked enthused with the 'geek talk', as Tony liked to call it.

"What does this have to do with the perpetrator?" Ziva wanted to know.

"Certain wordings..." Chloe cleared her throat. "Indicated feminization."

Tony's eyes widened. "A  _chick_  is doing this?"

"Due to her competent knowledge of the dead languages, and given how  _obscure_  they are and hard to learn, she would be getting on with age and in - most probably - a prominent position. She would be someone of high I.Q." Chloe's fingers tapped the air successively, as if typing on a keyboard, as she stared unseeing in front of her, something the others were quite used to by now. "I memorized the heads of the prison board, and after crosschecking certain data and going through the eliminating process with the factors of intelligence, age, and position-because those cameras in the bathroom were all wiped clean-I came up with only one person who could be the one involved in what was happening." Chloe nodded. "So I did a more in depth check into her background when I borrowed McGee's computer in the backseat, and I found out that her father was a prominent scholar, specializing in ancient Babylonian hieroglyphs and such. He was an avid collector of artifacts and such from the digs and-."

Gibbs went still. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, it's her," Chloe assured him with a nod. "I also hacked into some..." she cleared her throat, looking at the agents around her. "I mean I did a  _very_  legal search _,_ and found out that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer a couple of months ago-which also coincides with previously thought inmate-killings in the prison. I believe she secured one of the ghosts-if not them all-by methods very similar to the one portrayed in The Haunting In Connecticut, and has been using them to try and use the old rite in which Azazel is summoned so they can make a deal. Her life for their souls."

Ziva and McGee shared confused looks.

"Is it me, or is everyone else confused?" Tony wanted to know.

"It's just you," John replied, pumping his shotgun.

"No, it's not," McGee countered with a confused look. "Who exactly are we talking about?"

Chloe frowned slightly, looking around them. "But I just-."

"You forgot the name." Ziva cleared up her confusion with four words.

Chloe sighed, knowing that her annoyance with herself was obvious on her face. "Prison Warden McLeary. The head of the Prison.  _She_  is the one doing this." The blonde whacked herself on the side of her head. "Why couldn't I have just said that from the beginning?  _Argh!"_ She closed her eyes tightly. " _I'm always confusing everyone!_ "

Gibbs' hand came down on her shoulder.

Chloe opened her eyes, all her insecurities plain on her face as she looked up at him.

Gibbs chucked her under the chin.

A small smile tilted her lips and the blonde nodded, taking in a deep breath. "Let's do this."

"How are we getting in?" McGee wanted to know. "If Prison Warden McLeary realized her victim was discovered she could know that someone might be onto her and-."

"How many people know ancient Babylonian, Assyrian, and Syrian, McGee?" Tony wanted to know with a sneer. " _Other_  than our cute little Einstein?  _My_  thoughts are that McLeary is filling confident in her little tower."

"Dungeon," Ziva interrupted, clearing her throat when everyone turned to look at her. "I may have looked around earlier while investigating, and I noticed that there's a sub-level to the prison. But it was highly guarded. If I was going to sacrifice prisoners and do satanic rituals... the basement would be my choice in environment."

"Exactly." John gave Ziva an impressed and interested look. "I figured that myself, and when I was casing this place out I came across the blueprints. I make it a point to memorize the layouts so I always know where my exits are. And there's another entrance to the sub-level. This way." And with that he stalked away, blending into the darkness.

Chloe looked after him and blinked. "He's-kinda cool." And with that she hurried after him.

Gibbs glared with fatherly disapproval and quickly followed after.

Ziva, Tony and McGee sighed before doing the same.

* * *

Gibbs and John, neither used to sharing the lead, had had to do just that, and Chloe could see that neither of them liked it. But the men dealt with it, and as they walked through the darkened, underground passageway, Chloe had been content to stay in the middle of the group. She was the brains of the operatio, and didn't mind letting the others take the lead in the physical aspect. With Lionel and others after her for her knowledge Gibbs had instructed Tony to teach her to shoot, and Ziva to teach her combat, but Chloe had to admit that she wasn't doing too good with either. Though, to be truthful, it was because her mind found those times the best to start downloading information on how this move or that gun could be modified and used for something supernatural-and then her mind decided to  _show_  her how it was done, completely phasing her out and she'd end up not noticing the punch she was supposed to duck or nearly shooting off her own foot.

The blonde had played it off as her being too distracted-or just sucking at the training.

She was too much of a freak already.

The others didn't need to know just  _how_  much of a freak she was-or how her mind had a mind of its own and rebelled against her constantly.

Or that it was progressively getting worse.

Suddenly someone lunged at Ziva from the darkness with a yell.

Everyone turned their flashlights and guns at the sound, to find Ziva having already pinned the dead body covered in symbols face first into the wall.

"Go!" Ziva pressed the struggling corpse harder into the wall. "I can handle this."

Tony and Chloe hesitated, but followed the others when Ziva slammed the corpse's head viciously into the wall, surprisingly enough seeming to disorient it as its struggles lessened in strength.

The group continued on forwards, coming up to a pair of blast doors.

"Didn't see  _that_  coming!" Tony announced.

"There's no way we could shoot through that," John commented in a 'oh boy' sort of way.

"McGee." Gibbs motioned with his head towards an access panel off to the side.

"Already on it, boss." McGee was pulling something out of his bag.

Chloe shone her light on the access panel.

"Thanks." McGee smiled at her before hooking up the small computer to the access panel. He typed rapidly on the keyboard, overriding and altering, until the doors began to slowly open. "Um, boss? I'm going to have to stay out here." He looked up from the keyboard. "I need to keep typing the override codes every five minutes to keep this thing open."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes on the younger male. "Be careful."

McGee nodded.

As soon as the panel was open wide enough, the four remaining squeezed through and continued on.

"And the there were four," Tony intoned, eyes on the shadows all around them. "This is just like every B-rated horror movie I've ever watched."

"Really?" Chloe asked, a little nervously. "Then what's going to happen next?"

"Some other baddie is going to appear that I'll have to take care of so that you three, the head honchos, can make it to see the Big Boss," Tony predicted.

Suddenly a flash of shimmery color soared towards them.

"I hate being right." Tony winced before firing the rock salt at the ghost. "Go! This is between me and Casper."

Chloe followed after Gibbs and John, admittedly impressed by Tony's prediction. But she didn't have time to be impressed as they go to a door at the end of the tunnel, and Gibbs and John exchanged looks. The men nodded and John opened the door silently, following Gibbs when the special agent entered the room, gun first.

The girl trailed behind after a moment, coming upon the scene as McLeary stood before an alter with a freshly dead prisoner on a slab, body naked and covered in blood, new carvings in his skin. Mcleary wore a black cloak and hood, and was glaring hatefully at Gibbs and John as they ordered her hands up.

"There's nothing you can do," she hissed. "The symbols are finished! He is coming!"

John motioned to Chloe with his head towards the body.

"Back away and put your hands on your head." Gibbs cocked his gun. "And drop the knife."

McLeary sneered and did as told.

Chloe kicked the knife away as she walked passed the woman, going to examine the body and the symbols. After a moment's silence, she pulled away with an unreadable expression. "She finished it. He's coming."

"Can't you do something about it?" John snapped. "Carve some other symbols and send him away or cancel out the summoning?"

"If he's coming, it's too late!" McLeary laughed.

Gibbs spoke into his radio, letting his agents know of the demonic visit to happen.

John looked around for some sort of protection.

"Yes, it's too late," Chloe agreed, leaning with her hip against the sacrificial slab. "I overestimated you though."

McLeary turned to Chloe, eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"

"What did you do? Skim through this incantation?" She pointed to the body. "Do you even  _know_  what you carved into this poor bastard?"

"He was a rapist and murderer, he isn't any poor bastard!" McLeary snapped. "Everyone who died  _deserved_  it!"

"And what about Corporal Maddison?" Gibbs wanted to know, gun trained on the warden once more.

"He was helping his brother, getting rid of the witnesses," McLeary replied. "I figured his soul would be the one to draw Azazel out, and I was  _right!_  Only the blackest of souls offered will do that!"

The lights in the room began to flicker.

"Why did you change the ritual?" Chloe asked curiously. "This isn't like the one on Corporal Maddison's body."

"This one was more effective," McLeary replied, feeling assured as she knew the demon she had summoned was on the way. "It  _assured_  that the demon would come."

"Oh he'll come alright." Chloe shook her head, folding her hands over her chest. "Because you threw in  _your own_  soul into the deal, and made it available for immediate collection."

That smug superiority wavered. "You're lying."

"Uh,  _no_ , I'm  _not_." Chloe shook her head, pointing to a certain patch of symbols by the prisoner's ribs. "Of course, this is a loose translation, but basically it's saying: 'I give my soul and those I have...brought the hand of death upon...to your biding...in hopes that...the fires will burn less bright and...high?' " Chloe frowned, waiting for her brain to compute that symbol. "No, sorry.  _Hot_. It's definitely hot. But it's referring to how high the heat will be, so I think my confusion isn't so uncalled for."

"You...you can  _read_  that?" McLeary whispered in horror. "Without-without a compendium?"

"Is  _that_  what you've been using?" Chloe asked, looking up from the symbol. "Well, it screwed you over, I'll tell you that."

"No." McLeary shook her head. "You're lying! You're just trying to-!"

A voice tsked in the shadows. "It's not nice to call others liars."

Everyone turned to see Azazel step into the light.

"My Lord Azazel." McLeary went to her knees. "Hear my plea and grant me my wish in exchange for these souls!"

Azazel ignored her, eyeing Chloe. "That's twice in one night that we've met up." He smirked. "Are you stalking me?"

"No," Chloe replied point blank. She wondered why John and Gibbs were so silent, and then blinked when she turned to see them frozen. "What did you do to them?"

"Nothing permanent," Azazel assured her. "John serves as great entertainment to me-to end his life would dull mine. And Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs is of no concern of mine."

"My Lord!" McLeary tried reaching out for him.

"Silence!" Azazel's eyes flashed molten gold and McLeary screamed as she was thrown up against the ceiling and eviscerated alive, her blood flowing down on them. "It's very  _rude_  to butt into a conversation, isn't it, Little Adept?"

Chloe tried to ignore the warm blood showering them. "That was a  _little_  bit of an overkill, don't you think? Her soul was yours anyway."

"Well, I don't usually perform for an audience," he admitted with that same mocking way of his. " _Maybe_  I went for a little drama."

" _Aw_  Lord Azazel." Chloe kept her ground when he took a step towards her. "That's sweet and all, but you're not my type."

He chuckled. "A sense of humor." He leaned down over her so that she was forced to lean back against the dead body on the slab. "I could kill him for you."

She didn't need to ask who the  _him_  was. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't like the prices you charge for your services."

"He raped you, repeatedly."

Flashes of the horrors she'd had to go through at Lionel Luthor's hand blinded her for a moment, before she pushed them out of her mind and concentrated on the demon. "I survived."

"He'd take you again if he could. He  _thirsts_  for you." Azazel leaned in even more and whispered in her ear. "He  _dreams_  of that time and wakes up with soiled sheets."

Chloe whimpered as she was forced to nearly lay back against the body. "Stop it."

"He'll never stop coming after you, and he'll get to you." Azazel's lips brushed against her earlobe. "Let me kill him for you."

"If he does get to me, then  _I'll_  kill him." Chloe slipped out from between the demon and the corpse, shivering slightly in queasiness. "I will  _not_  owe you anything. If you kill him, its for your own delight, but do  _not_  bring this as some sort of favor I owe you because I don't  _want_  you to kill him. You can't force any sort of deal with me, especially concerning Lionel." She wiped at the blood dripping onto her face. "And don't think I don't remember that I'm still linked to him, and if he dies that link is broken and someone else will try to take it." Her eyes narrowed. "So no. I do  _not_  want you killing Lionel Luthor. And if you do. I'll find someone else and bind myself to that person. So it won't be of any use to you because this will be a  _willing_  bond. Much stronger. More protected. So it's to your  _advantage_ that Lionel Luthor lives."

Azazel turned to face her and leaned back against the slab. "I'd forgotten you are the Adept."

"A mistake I'm sure you won't be committing in the future, Lord Azazel."

The demon chuckled. "We'll have to do this again some other time."

And then he was gone, along with the bodies, and the souls.

Gibbs and John unfroze, looking around them in confusion.

Chloe collapsed to her knees, emotionally weakened after that confrontation.

" _Chloe_?" Gibbs whispered in horror as he saw the blood, hurrying towards her.

"I'm fine," she whispered as he bent to the ground and began checking her for wounds. "Not my blood."

Hearing noise, they turned to see Tony arrive.

"I'm guessing everything's over." He looked all around the room before making a face at Chloe's bloodied state.

Chloe met his queasy gaze. "For now."

* * *

 

"So, there are others, like Sammy." John sighed as they sat on the porch swing later that night.

Chloe nodded. She was wrapped in a blanket, sipping hot cocoa, and pretending not to notice it when every ten minutes Gibbs would go to the window to peer out at them. "Like I've already said, the information concerning the Special Children is encrypted and stored deep inside my brain. I can't even access the file to try and decrypt it. I know it's important, but I also know that Sam having demon blood in him doesn't make him a monster, or evil. You have to believe that, John."

He nodded. "Out of all of us, Sammy's always been the most human."

Chloe smiled tenderly at him, seeing the fatherly love in his eyes. "No matter what happens in the future you have to always remember that he's  _your_   _son_. Nothing else matters."

John nodded with a sigh. "I haven't spoken to him since he left for Stanford." He paused. "I was proud, you know, when he got a full ride into that college. But I know the evils out in this world, and I didn't want him anywhere I couldn't protect him. And I-I worded it all wrong and we haven't spoken to each other in four years. I know that he's okay because Dean will call him once in a while but other than that-."

"Well, maybe you and Dean should go and visit Sam at Stanford. It would mean a lot to him to know that his father doesn't disapprove of him, and wants to be a part of his life."

John sent her a half amused look. "That the Adept speaking?"

"Nah." Chloe shook her head. "That's the daughter speaking."

John eyed her in silence for a couple of minutes before nodding. "Thank you."

She didn't need to be the Adept to know that John Winchester didn't thank people much, so she just gave him a smile and placed her hand on his. "Don't be a stranger."

He smiled at her.

The door opened quickly. "It's getting late."

The seventeen-year-old bit down on her laughter and pulled her hand from John's. "You sure you don't want to spend the night at our place? You're welcomed to the guest room if you change your mind."

Gibbs snorted.

John smirked in amusement. "Thank you, but it won't be necessary. I have to go meet Dean a couple of cities over anyway, so I should be going now." He turned to Gibbs. "Jethro."

"John." Gibbs nodded.

Rocking softly, Chloe watched as John went down the steps and into his large truck before driving away. "He's kinda cool."

" _Please_ , let's not hear that  _ever_  again." Gibbs sighed as he sat down next to her, arm around her shoulders. "He's around my age. Too old for you."

"I know." Chloe pouted, leaning her head against her father's chest, bringing her blanket to cover them both. "All I'm saying is that a guy like that is perfect for me."

"You don't need a guy." Gibbs refused to see reason.

" _Daaaaaad,_ " she complained. "I'm _seventeen_. You're going to have to get used to the fact that I'm going to start dating any day now."

"How soon is 'any day now'?" He wanted to know, voice slightly horrified.

Chloe laughed and closed her eyes. "Sooner than you think."

"Is there someone I should know about?" Gibbs wanted to know suspiciously.

"Not yet. But there has to be  _someone_  out there for me, right? I mean. I know intellectually that I have a soulmate. I just don't know when I'll met him. But when I do, I'll know he's the one person in the world for me, who will complete me and make me whole." She paused. "Unless there's more than one person, you know, it's happened. Rarely, but happens. There are even two cases of a person having  _four_  soulmates."

"Honey,  _enough_. My mind can't take it."

Chloe giggled and closed her eyes once more. "Wuss."

"Hush." He leaned his head against hers.

Chloe smiled and relaxed, drifting to sleep to the rhythm of her father's heart. She'd worry about her deterioration later, for now she just enjoyed herself.


End file.
